CLICK ON PHOTO FOR COPY OF THE CAST
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Monthly Meetings & Casting Clinics (open to public)
River Flows - Sept-April, Russian River closes below 300 cfs
Fishing Reports & River Maps& R & River& F
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What is new:
update 10/06 Check out the Calendar of coming events: Current Russian River status - low flow, no fishing
- 10/ 8-11 Lewiston / Trinity (sign up, free) - 10/14 Monthly meeting
-TBA Steelhead Day Trips (sign up, free) - 11/11 Monthly meeting
- 12/09 Monthly meeting -12/12 Spey Clinic on Russian River (sign up, free)
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NCCFFi monthly newsletterClick photo to access:
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Recent club photo slideshows Below:
40th annual russian river watershed cleanup - September 19, 2026
12 from the RRFF signed up for this event: Ed Barich, Penelope Gadd-Coster, Gregg Wrisley, Don Shaw, Chris Riezenman, Bruce Riezenman, Mike Samuelson and Kathy McConnell, Pam Boyd DeCoite, Gary Hollinger, Tom Greer, Norman Chau.
Organized by Ed. Photos from Tom and Don. Thank you.
Organized by Ed. Photos from Tom and Don. Thank you.
Wading clinic - September 5, 2026
Del Rio Woods on the Russian River, our 4th wading clinic, six students, 3 mentors.
This story from a few years ago came from a different club in the Bay Area and was discussed at the Wading Clinic.
Upper Sac outing Woman's Group - August 28-30, 2026
See the article in the September 2026 Cast for a report on an excellent trip where all the women caught fish!
Eel river PikeMinnow outing, August 20-23, 2026
By Ed Barich (short version, see the Cast for the complete story)
The weekend of August 20-23, 2026 was the second annual RRFF Eel River Pikeminnow club outing.
While practically no fishing is done on the Eel in the summer, there is a “Pikeminnow Derby” held there, sponsored by Cal Trout. The purpose of the derby was to encourage anglers to harvest the Sacramento Pikeminnow, which are a native California species in some waters, but are invasive and predatory to wild steelhead and salmon fry in the Eel River.
Our group this year included leader Ed Barich, Jeff Cratty, Pam Boyd DeCoite, Don & Jan Shaw and Brook, Eric Byous, Chris & Bruce Riezenman, Mike & Lynn Spurlock, Penelope Gadd-Coster, Leafa Fiore, Keith Gay, Jan Whitney, Ewan Lithgow, Gary Hollinger and Gregg Wrisley.
At the end of the weekend, we had removed over 28 pounds of invasive pikeminnow from the Eel River.
The evenings ended with us sitting around Don’s campfire under the tall redwoods, sharing our stories and fish tales. The consensus of our group was that we would like to do this outing again next year.
The weekend of August 20-23, 2026 was the second annual RRFF Eel River Pikeminnow club outing.
While practically no fishing is done on the Eel in the summer, there is a “Pikeminnow Derby” held there, sponsored by Cal Trout. The purpose of the derby was to encourage anglers to harvest the Sacramento Pikeminnow, which are a native California species in some waters, but are invasive and predatory to wild steelhead and salmon fry in the Eel River.
Our group this year included leader Ed Barich, Jeff Cratty, Pam Boyd DeCoite, Don & Jan Shaw and Brook, Eric Byous, Chris & Bruce Riezenman, Mike & Lynn Spurlock, Penelope Gadd-Coster, Leafa Fiore, Keith Gay, Jan Whitney, Ewan Lithgow, Gary Hollinger and Gregg Wrisley.
At the end of the weekend, we had removed over 28 pounds of invasive pikeminnow from the Eel River.
The evenings ended with us sitting around Don’s campfire under the tall redwoods, sharing our stories and fish tales. The consensus of our group was that we would like to do this outing again next year.
Jan's Dog Zen must eat!
June 26-28, 2026 Truckee River and Sawmill lake outing
The Woman's Group organized two days of Truckee River training via Guide Peter Santley and one day fishing on Sawmill Lake.
Below: Lynn watches Peter catch a beautiful rainbow while demonstrating Euro Nymphing (high stick nymphing).
June 18-21, 2026 Manzanita Lake outing report
By Ed Barich
On the weekend of June 18-21, a large group of RRFF anglers, including leaders Ed Barich and Matt
Cardle, Jeff Cratty, Jan Whitney, Rick Baker, Betty Andrews, Tim Reuling, Bill Mitchell, Jan & Don Shaw,
Gregg Wrisley, Mike Spurlock, Jenny Tighe, Chadd Troedel, Michael Bluto, Eric & Noah Byous, Joe Hiney,
and Bob Porter traveled to Lassen National Park to camp and fish at Manzanita Lake – one of the few
stillwater fisheries in Northern California where you can drive up to the shore and catch a wild rainbow
or brown trout on the lake.
As in last year, we picked this particular weekend on the advice of Matt, who had previous experience
fishing the “motorboat caddis” hatch that occurs there only at sunset in late June. When this bug
emerges on the lake surface, it skidders around before flying off – hence the motorboat nickname. The
trout are crazy about these big protein packages and will rise to them with abandon. Matt gave us
advice on caddis dry flies that were reasonable imitations of the real bug, and on each evening at dusk
we cast them on floating lines from float tubes or by wading the shorelines of the lake. Last year’s caddis
hatch was minor due to high evening winds and low temperatures. This year’s weather was different:
calmer winds, 90F air and 70F water temperatures on Thursday, and moderately cooler temps on Friday
and Saturday evenings. Despite the improved weather, we saw even less caddis emerging than last year
– maybe the hatch was earlier in June? We were able to catch several brown trout in the evenings, but
not as many as last year.
Fortunately, there was action to be had on the lake during the day. The mornings were slow, and the
sub-surface bite was sub-par for most of us (except for Jeff, who always has success fooling fish with a
stripped damselfly nymph any time of the day). But in the afternoons the lake surface was busy with
callibaetis mayflies and rising trout. The bite was not red-hot, but there were enough heart-aching
misses and solid takes to keep us entertained all afternoon. A couple of our members also checked out
other waters near Manzanita Lake. Rick explored the southern end of Lassen Park, fishing Kings Creek
and Mill Creek where he was able to find small but cooperative wild trout. Mike B. spent Saturday at
Crater Lake (off Hwy 44) where he caught many planted rainbow trout, some as large as the ones we
were catching at Manzanita.
With such a large group of club member present, we had fun getting together at camp to share meals.
On Friday, Matt made us a paella dish using his 3-ring burner setup and a 3-foot diameter pan. Dinner
was served at his campsite and Matt’s delicious concoction was devoured (most of us went back for
seconds). It was a great time to get to know each other, share fish stories and discuss ideas for future
outings.
Will we do it again next year? The consensus was yes, but we may consider moving the event up one
week to avoid the Father’s Day/ Juneteenth weekend.
On the weekend of June 18-21, a large group of RRFF anglers, including leaders Ed Barich and Matt
Cardle, Jeff Cratty, Jan Whitney, Rick Baker, Betty Andrews, Tim Reuling, Bill Mitchell, Jan & Don Shaw,
Gregg Wrisley, Mike Spurlock, Jenny Tighe, Chadd Troedel, Michael Bluto, Eric & Noah Byous, Joe Hiney,
and Bob Porter traveled to Lassen National Park to camp and fish at Manzanita Lake – one of the few
stillwater fisheries in Northern California where you can drive up to the shore and catch a wild rainbow
or brown trout on the lake.
As in last year, we picked this particular weekend on the advice of Matt, who had previous experience
fishing the “motorboat caddis” hatch that occurs there only at sunset in late June. When this bug
emerges on the lake surface, it skidders around before flying off – hence the motorboat nickname. The
trout are crazy about these big protein packages and will rise to them with abandon. Matt gave us
advice on caddis dry flies that were reasonable imitations of the real bug, and on each evening at dusk
we cast them on floating lines from float tubes or by wading the shorelines of the lake. Last year’s caddis
hatch was minor due to high evening winds and low temperatures. This year’s weather was different:
calmer winds, 90F air and 70F water temperatures on Thursday, and moderately cooler temps on Friday
and Saturday evenings. Despite the improved weather, we saw even less caddis emerging than last year
– maybe the hatch was earlier in June? We were able to catch several brown trout in the evenings, but
not as many as last year.
Fortunately, there was action to be had on the lake during the day. The mornings were slow, and the
sub-surface bite was sub-par for most of us (except for Jeff, who always has success fooling fish with a
stripped damselfly nymph any time of the day). But in the afternoons the lake surface was busy with
callibaetis mayflies and rising trout. The bite was not red-hot, but there were enough heart-aching
misses and solid takes to keep us entertained all afternoon. A couple of our members also checked out
other waters near Manzanita Lake. Rick explored the southern end of Lassen Park, fishing Kings Creek
and Mill Creek where he was able to find small but cooperative wild trout. Mike B. spent Saturday at
Crater Lake (off Hwy 44) where he caught many planted rainbow trout, some as large as the ones we
were catching at Manzanita.
With such a large group of club member present, we had fun getting together at camp to share meals.
On Friday, Matt made us a paella dish using his 3-ring burner setup and a 3-foot diameter pan. Dinner
was served at his campsite and Matt’s delicious concoction was devoured (most of us went back for
seconds). It was a great time to get to know each other, share fish stories and discuss ideas for future
outings.
Will we do it again next year? The consensus was yes, but we may consider moving the event up one
week to avoid the Father’s Day/ Juneteenth weekend.
May 14-16, 2026 Siskiyou Outing Report
On the weekend of May 14-17, a large group of RRFF members including outing leader Ed Barich, Jenny
Tighe, Chadd Troedel, Gregg Wrisley, Don & Jan Shaw, Jan Whitney, Rick Baker, Gary Hollinger, Jim
Landis, Robin Artegiani, Lynn Hoyer and Jim DeMartini gathered at Lake Siskiyou to chase the trout that
inhabit that region. Lake Siskiyou is a reservoir on the Upper Sacramento River, just off Interstate 5 near
the town of Mt. Shasta. We stayed at the Lake Siskiyou Resort and Campground, a private park that has
plenty of RV and tent camping sites, a boat marina and some great views of the 14,000-foot snow-
covered peak that gives the town its name.
This outing was our second year in a row at this location. We were looking for a repeat of the good trout
action we had on Lake Siskiyou in 2025, but conditions had changed. The unusually warm weather this
spring had caused early runoffs, leaving lower lake inlet flows when we arrived. The planted trout in the
lake were definitely less active this year, although our members were able to catch some at the river
inlet. A side benefit of the warmer lake water temperatures (up to 66F) was that smallmouth bass were
more active in the lake. These “redeyes” were fun to catch on float-n-fly rigs; the smaller fish gave us
great leaps and the larger ones put a big bend in a 5wt fly rod.
As we discovered last year, the Mt. Shasta area can have some heavy winds in May and this year was no
exception. Whitecaps appeared on Lake Siskiyou on Saturday and Sunday, making boating there difficult
at best. Fortunately, the flows in the nearby Upper Sacramento River were less than 600 CFS, providing
us with a great alternative; the planted trout in the Dunsmuir area were cooperative for most of our
members, including Robin who got his first fish on a fly rod. Gregg and I scouted fishing sites on the
lower river where I was able to land a wild rainbow on a trout spey rod – my first fish ever on the Upper
Sac. Rick Baker was successful in his California Heritage Trout Challenge quest by landing a Trout Creek
Redband trout. Lots of personal-bests on this trip.
For our Friday night dinner, we gathered at Don and Jan’s spacious campsite for a potluck that featured
Jan’s delicious chicken cacciatore. On Saturday evening we met at the Black Bear Diner in Mt. Shasta to
trade fish stories and say our final goodbyes, hoping to see everyone here next year. Ed Barich
Tighe, Chadd Troedel, Gregg Wrisley, Don & Jan Shaw, Jan Whitney, Rick Baker, Gary Hollinger, Jim
Landis, Robin Artegiani, Lynn Hoyer and Jim DeMartini gathered at Lake Siskiyou to chase the trout that
inhabit that region. Lake Siskiyou is a reservoir on the Upper Sacramento River, just off Interstate 5 near
the town of Mt. Shasta. We stayed at the Lake Siskiyou Resort and Campground, a private park that has
plenty of RV and tent camping sites, a boat marina and some great views of the 14,000-foot snow-
covered peak that gives the town its name.
This outing was our second year in a row at this location. We were looking for a repeat of the good trout
action we had on Lake Siskiyou in 2025, but conditions had changed. The unusually warm weather this
spring had caused early runoffs, leaving lower lake inlet flows when we arrived. The planted trout in the
lake were definitely less active this year, although our members were able to catch some at the river
inlet. A side benefit of the warmer lake water temperatures (up to 66F) was that smallmouth bass were
more active in the lake. These “redeyes” were fun to catch on float-n-fly rigs; the smaller fish gave us
great leaps and the larger ones put a big bend in a 5wt fly rod.
As we discovered last year, the Mt. Shasta area can have some heavy winds in May and this year was no
exception. Whitecaps appeared on Lake Siskiyou on Saturday and Sunday, making boating there difficult
at best. Fortunately, the flows in the nearby Upper Sacramento River were less than 600 CFS, providing
us with a great alternative; the planted trout in the Dunsmuir area were cooperative for most of our
members, including Robin who got his first fish on a fly rod. Gregg and I scouted fishing sites on the
lower river where I was able to land a wild rainbow on a trout spey rod – my first fish ever on the Upper
Sac. Rick Baker was successful in his California Heritage Trout Challenge quest by landing a Trout Creek
Redband trout. Lots of personal-bests on this trip.
For our Friday night dinner, we gathered at Don and Jan’s spacious campsite for a potluck that featured
Jan’s delicious chicken cacciatore. On Saturday evening we met at the Black Bear Diner in Mt. Shasta to
trade fish stories and say our final goodbyes, hoping to see everyone here next year. Ed Barich
April 30-may 3, 2026 Baum Lake
The annual RRFF club Baum Lake outing at the PG&E campground in Cassel, CA. event included Ed Barich, Matt Cardle, Jenny Tighe,
Chadd Troedel, Rick Baker and life member Scotty Broome and his friend. The Friday action there was disappointing, so on Saturday, Rick went to Goose Lake (caught Redband trout for his quest on the California Heritage Trout Challenge) and the rest of the group went to Lake Manzanita Lake where fishing was very good for rainbows and browns. Damsel nymphs on an intermediate line and midge nymphs under a dropper with a dry fly were effective. All caught fish and enjoyed the group meals.
Rick and Chadd had fished the Lower Sac on Friday and Rick had fished the Fall River on Sunday.
Chadd Troedel, Rick Baker and life member Scotty Broome and his friend. The Friday action there was disappointing, so on Saturday, Rick went to Goose Lake (caught Redband trout for his quest on the California Heritage Trout Challenge) and the rest of the group went to Lake Manzanita Lake where fishing was very good for rainbows and browns. Damsel nymphs on an intermediate line and midge nymphs under a dropper with a dry fly were effective. All caught fish and enjoyed the group meals.
Rick and Chadd had fished the Lower Sac on Friday and Rick had fished the Fall River on Sunday.
4/16-19/2026 Clear Lake Outing
Camping at Clear Lake State Park
4/11/2026 aNNUAL POND CLEANING
Doug and son overnighted to suck out the water. Then, on a rainy Saturday, the rest of the crew showed up and the pond got cleaned!
2/21/2026 Winter Dinner
Yuba River January 24-25, 2026
Ed reports that his was the 12th year we rented the Yuba River from UC for a weekend. The high river flow (2100 cfs compared to 700 cfs last year) limited fishing access. Some 12" - 18" rainbows were caught using Skwala flies. Great Saturday night dinner at the local brew pub.
01/09/2026 Preparing Tanks for Steelhead in the Classroom Egg Deliveries
RRFF:
Karl Joost, Tim Reuling, Mike Borba, Tom Greer (and Stella), Patrick Norton, Glen Stanley, Penelope Gadd-Coster, Mike Spurlock
CDFW:
Sabreena Britt
Sonoma Water:
David Berman, Ryan Hone.
Egg Deliveries to classrooms are scheduled for 10 am on February 11th and March 25th at 404 Aviation Drive, Sonoma Water. Volunteers needed. Contact Karl Joost.
Karl Joost, Tim Reuling, Mike Borba, Tom Greer (and Stella), Patrick Norton, Glen Stanley, Penelope Gadd-Coster, Mike Spurlock
CDFW:
Sabreena Britt
Sonoma Water:
David Berman, Ryan Hone.
Egg Deliveries to classrooms are scheduled for 10 am on February 11th and March 25th at 404 Aviation Drive, Sonoma Water. Volunteers needed. Contact Karl Joost.
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Who Are Russian River Fly Fishers?
People of all ages who enjoy fly fishing, located in Sonoma County, California. The club's roots go back to the summer of 1976 in Norm Sutcliffe's sporting goods store in downtown Santa Rosa. Activities:
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Mouth of the Russian River